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An estimate says how long a task should take. It is the number every “are we still on track?” question is measured against.

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What is an estimate?

An estimate is hours on a task. It is not a budget – a budget is a ceiling on a whole project. The full comparison is at /concepts/budget-vs-estimate.

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Two numbers, not one

A task keeps both: The original is written once and never overwritten. That is what makes estimate drift visible: if a task was estimated at 6 hours and is now at 14, the panel shows 14h with “revised from 6h” beside it.
Both numbers exist so you can answer “did we plan this badly, or did the work change?” months later. Losing the original would erase the question.

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Set the first estimate

1

Open the task

Click the task in the project list or board, or open its full page.
2

Find the Estimate section

In the side panel it is a collapsible section. On the full page it is a card in the right rail.
3

Type the hours

The Estimate field takes a number. It steps in halves, so 2.5 is fine.
4

Click Set estimate

A toast confirms “Estimate set.”
The first time you set an estimate there is no Note field, because there is no prior number a note could explain.

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Revise an estimate

1

Open the Estimate section

The current estimate shows at the top.
2

Type the new hours

The field is now labelled New estimate.
3

Add a note (optional)

The Note field asks “Why it changed”. A short reason here is what makes the history useful.
4

Click Revise estimate

A toast confirms “Estimate revised.”
Every revision is written to the task’s Activity feed with the old hours, the new hours and your note. That feed is append-only – a revision cannot be edited or removed.

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What happens next

Setting or revising an estimate changes three things straight away:
  • Remaining hours on the task recalculate. Remaining is Estimated − Tracked, floored at zero, so it never reads “-3h left”.
  • The Est column in the project list updates.
  • The board card’s estimate chip updates, and column totals re-add.
Estimates do not consume a budget by themselves – tracked time does. See /budgets/how-budgets-work.

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Example

Priya Raman estimates “Homepage wireframes” on Bluebird Coffee – Website Redesign at 6 hours. Sarah Lin tracks 3 hours. The Financials section reads: The client then asks for a second layout direction. Priya revises the estimate to 10 hours with the note “Client asked for a second direction”. The task now shows 10h with “revised from 6h”, Remaining becomes 7h, and the Activity feed carries the reason.

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Options and settings

A negative or non-numeric value is refused.

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Permissions

Estimates have their own capability, separate from editing a task.
task.reviseEstimate is not included in task.edit. A Member who can edit a task cannot change its estimate by default. That split is deliberate: an estimate is a commitment, and moving it changes what the project is measured against.
Default holders: task.reviseEstimate is the one task capability that can be widened per project. A workspace can give a Member a higher role on one project only, and that person then sees the revise control on that project and nowhere else. The control you see is resolved on the server for that specific project, so a per-project grant shows up correctly and an Admin is never narrowed by one. If you cannot revise estimates, the Estimate section still shows the current value – you see the number, you cannot change it.

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Common questions

No. You can revise it to another number, including 0, but there is no “remove estimate” action. The original estimate is kept for history.
No. Each task carries its own estimate and its own tracked time. A subtask is an independent work item.
Not directly. Budget health is driven by tracked time and money spent. An estimate is what you expect; a budget is what you may spend.
Remaining is floored at zero on purpose. “You have -3h left” is not a useful statement – overrun is shown through budget health and reports instead.
Anyone who can open the task. The note lands on the task’s Activity feed.

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Troubleshooting

You do not hold task.reviseEstimate for this project. Ask an Owner, Admin or Project Manager, or ask for a per-project override.
The control is a hint; the server decides. Your capability may have been changed since the page loaded. Refresh and try again.
That task has no estimate yet. The list shows the current estimate, falling back to the original if only that exists.

Budget vs estimate

The difference, stated once and properly.

Task fields

Every field on a task.

How budgets work

What actually consumes a budget.

Task level caps

An informational cap on one task.

Task permissions

Why estimates have their own capability.